Belisi – How It Started

I love learning the stories of how successful people or companies got their start. I find that it can be a personal inspiration; and a good start-up story is gold for a company.

That is what attracted me to blog about Belisi – How it Started.

Peter Belisi was a man with a dream. He had a dream of giving his wife and newborn child a better life.Working as a bartender in Palm Beach, what could be a fun job in a great city, Peter saw people who had it all. They were people who would not accept any less.

There was something else about the people though, they had a charitable spirit.

I believe without question that people succeed in life, one way or another, because of other people. For Peter Belisi, it was the image of the well to do customers that provided inspiration.

I also believe that anyone who succeeds takes a chance. Peter Belisi invested what little extra money he had in neckties. It wasn’t long before co-workers and customers began to compliment him on the ties. This inspired Belisi to pursue a business in fashion.

The thing that stands out as much as anything in this story is the philosophy of giving among the wealthy Palm Beach crowd. This is something that had an impact on Peter Belisi. Today an integral part of his company is “Luxury with Meaning”. A portion of every puchase, regardless of size, is given to charity.

HotelReservations.com

There has been a lot of time to think lately; one of the things we have been thinking about is taking a vacation.

It sounds easy enough. In truth, though, arranging a trip to a place you want to visit at a price you are comfortable paying can be a challenge.

Exploring various choices, I’ve decided to check out options to make Hotel Reservations using HotelReservations.com.

The site is loaded with features. So much so, it’s difficult to know where to start. You can obtain information on hotels, flights and cars. There are vacation rentals and vacation packages. Also Bed & Breakfasts and Condo Rentals. You can even arrange cruises through HotelReservations.com!

If that’s not enough, there are links for Family Fun, Beach Hotels, Gambling, Golf and Spa deals. It would be safe to say, if you want to arrange a trip for yourself or for a group you can do it at HotelReservations.com. In fact they have a service for Group Bookings with nine or more rooms per day.

Of course, the $100 Rebate grabbed my eye. As did the link reading “Guaranteed Lower Rates”.

An interesting tool is a Destination Guide where you can research the city you want to visit. Another thing I had to check out is the Road Trip Search where you can find deals at places near where you are!

Logging into the website, my first inclination was to check out the places I most want to visit without consideration of cost. There are about 40 countries to which you can arrange travel. But I kept my choices to the United States.

I thought the logical place to start was the Destination Guide. I think it’s impossible to use this tool and not know exactly what you’re going to find when you reach your destination. It even helps you decide when to go!

I’m not sure what research you’ll have left to do once you’ve checked out the details on:

• Costs and Money
• Telephones, Mail, Email and Time Zones
• Getting Around
• Best Of
• Food And Drink
• Festivals and Public Holidays
• History
• Outdoors
• Crime and Personal Safety
• Health Advice

Designing On A Budget

It’s not that difficult. Be it traditional, country or contemporary.

Select the focal point around which you want to design a space. Or pick a theme and work with that.

Choose a nice accent piece. A splash of color here. The right fabric there.

Interior design is something that is frequently taken lightly. Truth be told it’s more than about how things look; it’s the way being in the space makes you feel.

Cost can be an issue to create the surroundings you want. That’s where Designing on a Budget comes in.

This text will assist you to achieve extraordinary results while not spending lavishly. This approach to interior design contributes to a higher quality life; whatever your bank balance may be.

American Tragedy Brings Home Importance of Mental Health

Article was originally published by FORTE in October, 2001.

American Tragedy Brings Home Importance of Mental Health
By Anthony McCune

Facing personal tragedy is a well known trigger for the onset of depression.

Experiencing a high level of stress over an extended period of time is associated with developing anxiety disorders.

These issues came to the forefront of the American consciousness on September 11, 2001. Horrific terrorist attacks were executed against civilians working in one of America’s landmarks, the World Trade Center in New York City, and the heart of the nation’s defense establishment, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

More than 11,000 people were killed or injured in New York City including police and firefighters.

Howard Lutnik, President and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, {the world’s leading bond trading firm} wept openly on national television as he spoke of his 700 employees who’d lost their lives. Mr. Lutnik did not understand how the surviving members of his firm voted to return to work. It had nothing to do with their making money; it is the importance of work to all of us. It is part of the healing process people need to go through. Work is vital to recovery.

In the days and weeks that followed there were airplane pilots and flight attendants talking about the anxiety they were experiencing when considering returning to work. They also experienced the fear many Americans have felt, and continue to feel, about returning to the air.

People working at the Sears Tower in Chicago, America’s tallest building, spoke of the anxiety they felt about returning to their offices in the sky. Similar fears were expressed by other workers from offices in skyscrapers across the nation.

A month later, and for months to come, workers are cleaning up the devastation in the area which was the World Trade Center…now referred to as Ground Zero.

This raises the issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There was a well known picture of a firefighter at the scene of the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building; he was holding an injured child who had been at the on-site day-care center. The stress and depression related to this event led to this firefighter committing suicide.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency {FEMA} has allocated $38 million for provision of mental health counseling services in New York City and Washington, D.C.

America will never be quite the same after the unprecedented attack on our homeland.

While Americans are working to return a bit of normalcy to their lives…there is fear lurking in the back of people’s minds. There is anxiety we haven’t felt before.

The terrorists’ infiltration of our society has made people re-think the value of a totally “open” culture. There is not so much of an objection at having our personal freedoms infringed upon a bit.

Many people experience feelings or exhibit behaviors that could be considered symptoms of one or another mental illness. It depends on the degree to which a person’s life is impacted whether they are diagnosed.

People from around the world were in the World Trade Center the day of the terrorist strikes. People from coast to coast knew individuals who were killed, injured or experienced unspeakable horror that day in New York City, Washington and rural Pennsylvania.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something “survivors” of September 11, along with rescue workers, are going to have to face.

What must be realized is that you did not have to personally know anyone who was touched by the tragedy of September 11th; in reality it has touched us all. The need for mental health intervention is not going to end with the $38 million FEMA has allocated to victims and families.

Watching the events unfold night after night on television has an effect on us.

People are anxious about the possibility of a wide-spread chemical or biological attack. Nuclear power plants have been targets of what have been called “creditable threats”.

Terrorists, not yet known to be domestic or linked to the group responsible for September 11 attacks, are spreading anthrax through the postal system; disrupting business and government.

There is fear about the security and safety of the nation’s water supply.

One of the main lessons that September 11, 2001 must teach us is that mental illness is not an us and them issue. It is a WE issue. More money is needed to address the mental health issues we face.

Thinking of Starting a Business? The Top 10 Tips

Thinking of Starting a Business? The Top 10 Tips
By Anthony McCune

1. Be brutally honest in assessing your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Accept that you will need assistance to make your company successful.
3. Understand the need to focus on your area of expertise; identify sources of assistance for other operational areas.
4. Establish realistic goals that include measurable results.
5. Thoroughly research the industry including details about your competition.
6. Keep in mind, you are not going to reinvent the wheel. Successful companies – i.e. Microsoft and Wal*Mart – take existing ideas, adapt them as necessary and make them their own.
7. Project things to take longer than you believe they will and to cost more than you want or believe they will.
8. Develop a strategy that includes a reasonable number of contingencies.
9. Take an approach that is proactive, not reactive.
10. Plan your work and work your plan.